Cut-pile floor covering

ABSTRACT

A woven cut-pile fabric floor covering suitable for use with metal floating floor panels having a plurality of weftwise-spaced lifting cords woven into the carpet backing and extending warpwise, each cord floating over a plurality of groups of wefts, each group including at least three successive face wefts, the lifting cords lying substantially flat against the wefts over which they are floated or woven and disposed below the top of and concealed by the pile, the floats of the lifting cords being accessible from the pile side of the fabric for lifting the fabric.

United States Patent 72] Inventor Raymond J. Carrigan Thompsonville, Conn. [21] Appl. No. 778,189

[22] Filed Nov. 22, 1968 [45] Patented Mar. 16, 1971 [73] Assignee Bigelow-Sanford, Inc.

Thompsonville, Conn.

[54] CUT-FILE FLOOR COVERING 8 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl 139/403, 139/405 [51] lnt.Cl ..D03d 27/06 [50] Field of Search 139/403, 405, 391

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2 1813 11190 .IRPWFEQHV /ll L 2,127,817 8/1938 Jameson 2,774,390 12/1956 Hoeselbarth 139/403 FOREIGN PATENTS 16,657 1895 GreatBritain 139/403 Primary Examiner-James Kee Chi Attorney-E. T. Le Gates ABSTRACT: A woven cut-pile fabric floor covering suitable I for use with metal floating floor panels having a plurality of weftwise-spaced lifting cords woven into the carpet backing and extending warpwise, each cord floating over a plurality of groups of wefts, each group including at least three successive face wefts, the lifting cords lying substantially flat against the wefts over which they are floated or woven and disposed below the top of and concealed by the pile, the floats of the lifting cords being accessible from the pile side of the fabric for lifting the fabric.

Patented Max-d116, 1971 I 3,570,552

4o C 8. q

CUT-FILE FLOOR CQVERHNG The present invention relates to pile fabric floor coverings and more particularly to a woven pile fabric floor covering having a cut-pile surface and being particularly suitable for use with metal floating floor panels.

in floating floor systems the finished floor is made up of metal panels, usually 24 inches square, which can be lifted from place with the proper tool to expose service wires, busways, telephone cable, plumbing, etc., located between the subfloor and the floating floor. Such floating floors are increasingly coming into use in areas such as computer rooms, offices having installations of other types of electrical or electronic office equipment, and in certain factory areas. At first, the traditional soft surface pile fabric floor coverings, such as carpets and rugs, was not used with such floating floor systems because of the difficulty of removing carpet panels easily and without damage and resort was had to the use of hard surface floor covering, even where soft surface floor covering was much desired, and despite the shortcomings of hard surface floor covering such as high noise, breakage and injury factors, and that it is susceptible to scuffing and is more fatiguing to personnel. However, the noise reduction value of carpet, its esthetic appeal, freedom from breakage, and scuffing and other beneficial effects on the comfort of the employees working in these areas has lead to an increasing use of carpet with such floor systems. Such use, however, has been confined to loop pile carpet, for with loop pile it is possible to insert a lifting tool into the loops when necessary to raise the carpet and attached panel from the floor, the carpet being adhered or otherwise secured to the panel. Cut-pile carpet has not been used because of the difficulty experienced in attempting to raise panels with cut-pile carpet from the floor. Such restriction to looped pile has severely limited the variety of textures and patterns from which the decorators and architects may choose. The present invention solves this problem by providing a cut pile woven soft surface floor covering which can readily be engaged from its pile surface side, by a lifting tool or otherwise, to raise the carpet and attached panel from the floor, without sacrifice of the desirable qualities of cut pile carpets and rugs, such as those mentioned above.

An object of the invention is to provide a cut-pile, soft surface pile fabric floor covering suitable for use with floating floor systems made up of metal panels and which is arranged to be conveniently engaged and lifted to raise the carpet and panel from the floor.

Another object is to provide such a soft-surface cut-pile floor covering which can be produced conveniently on conventional carpet looms.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, in which descriptive reference will be made to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, somewhat diagrammatic, the warp and weft strands being shown more widely separated than they are in the actual fabric; and

FIG. 2 is a warpwise sectional view.

In accordance with the invention, I provide a pile fabric floor covering suitable for use with metal floating floor panels and having wefts, including at least face wefts, binder warp threads interwoven with the wefts to form the carpet backing, pile yarns looped below wefts and extending above the wefts as cut pile tufts to form the cut pile surface, which surface contains a normal complement of pile, and a plurality of weftwise-spaced lifting cords woven into the carpet backing, extending warpwise of the carpet and each floating over a plurality of groups of wefts, each group composed of at least three successive face wefts, each lifting cord at each end of a float being woven under the next succeeding weft, over a succeeding weft and under a further succeeding weft, and wherein the lifting cords lie substantially flat against the wefts over which they are floated or woven whereby the lifting cords are concealed by the pile tufts and do not detract from the normal appearance of the carpet, the floats of the lifting cords being accessible from the pile side of the fabric for lifting the fabric.

Referring now to the particular illustrative embodiment shown in the drawing, the fabric comprises a series of face wefts 2, d, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, l6, 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26. These face wefts are disposed above a stuffer warp 54. Disposed below the stuffer warp 54 is a series of lower wefts 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50 and 52. The wefts may be composed of two separate strands, as in Axminster construction. The wefts are arranged in pairs with one face weft and one lower weft to a pair, the wefts 2 and 28 constituting a pair, the wefts 4 and 30 constituting a pair, and so on as appears in F IG. 2.

The pile face of the fabric is formed by a series of pile yarns 60, 62 looped below the face wefts 2, 4, etc., which in this fabric serve as the holding wefts. The pile yarns extend upwardly away from the stuffer warp 54 to. form a cut-pile surface. There may be a weftwise row of pile tuftsfor each face weft 2, 4, 6, 8,10,12, 14,16,18, 20,22, 24, and 26. I

The usual binder warp threads are employed, the binder warp thread 58 being woven, as appears in FIG. 2, above the face weft 2 of the weft pair 2, 28, woven below the lower weft 30 of the next succeeding weft pair 4, 30, above the face weft 6 of the next succeeding weft pair 6, 32 and so on throughout the fabric. The companion binder warp thread 56 is woven below the lower weft 28 of the weft pair 2, 28, woven above the face weft 4 of the weft pair 4, 30, woven below the lower weft 32 of the weft pair 6, 32 and so on throughout the fabric.

Extending warpwise of the fabric and interwoven with the wefts is a series of weftwise spaced lifting cords 64 of cotton, nylon, or the like. These lifting cords are adapted to be cngaged by a suitable tool and lifted to lift the fabric and its associated floor panel from the floor. Referring to FlG. 2, the lifting cords 64 appearing therein are woven under the lower weft 28 over the next four successive facewefts 4, 6, 8 and 10 and then woven under the lower weft 38, over the face weft l4 and under the lower weft 42. Then the lifting cords 64 are woven over the next succeeding four successive face wefts, R8, 20, 22, and 24, as a float lying substantially flat against the face wefts. Next the lifting cords 64 are woven under the lower weft 52. Thus the lifting cords 64 are woven as a float over a plurality of groups of wefts, each group composedof four successive face wefts, and, between the floats, is woven under the next succeeding weft, over a succeeding weft and under a further succeeding weft. This portion of a lifting cord may be interwoven with the wefts in the normal manner of weaving of a binder warp thread. The floats form portions of the lifting cords which readily can be engaged for lifting of the fabric, the interweaving of the lifting cord with the wefts between the floats serving to prevent any substantial slippage of the lifting cord when so engaged and lifted. The floats are readily accessible from the pile face side of the fabric for such engagement, but as the floats lie substantially flat against the wefts over which they float they are concealed by the cut-pile tufts, which tend to spread or blossom" in the finished carpet, and therefore the lifting cords do not detract from the normal appearance of the fabric.

The separate lifting cords 64 may be spaced from each other at a convenient distance weftwise of the fabric. Spacings of about one inch are satisfactory, but this distance is by no means critical.

The floats in different lifting cords 64 may be staggered warpwise of the fabric if desired.

While in the embodiment shown for purposes of illustration the floats extend over four face wefts, it is satisfactory for them to extend over only three successive face wefts or to extend over more than four, say, over as many as 14 or more. The number of wefts over which the floats are to extend in a particular fabric will depend to some extent on the construction of the fabric or the particular use to which it is to be put and can readily be determined by those skilled in the art.

While the lifting cords 6 in the illustrative embodiment are, between the floats, interwoven with three successive wefts, they may be interwoven with a larger number of wefts if desired.

The carpet of the invention can be woven on axminster, jacquard, velvet, wilton or other types of standard carpetweaving looms that produce cut-pile floor coverings. The lifting cords are shedded by heddles or other usual shedding means. in the jacquard loom the lingoes of the jacquard may be used for this purpose.

The fabric may be a single or a triple weft plane fabric or, indeed of any conventional carpet construction. While the carpet of the invention has particular utility in connection with metal floating floor panels, it is also useful for other uses where conventional carpet is employed.

In the use of the carpet of the invention with metal floating floor panels, the carpet is secured to the panel in the usual way, as by use of an adhesive composition. In the normal use of the floor with the panel in place, the lifting cords are concealed by the cut pile and do not in any way detract from the appearance of the carpet. When a particular panel is to be lifted, the pile can be separated to expose the lifting cord which then can be engaged to lift the panel. Conveniently a suitably shaped lifting tool may be used for the purpose. As the carpet and panel are lifted the lifting cord does not slip warpwise to any appreciable extent and when the panel and carpet are replaced and the lifting tool, if one is employed, removed, the lifting cord reassumes substantially its original position in which it is concealed by the pile.

lclaim:

l. A woven pile fabric floor covering suitable for use with metal floating floor panels comprising wefts including face wefts, binder warp threads interwoven with the wefts to form the carpet backing, pile yarns looped below wefts and extending above the backing as cut-pile tufts in weftwise pile rows to form a pile surface containing a normal complement of pile, and a plurality of weftwise-spaced lifting cords woven into the carpet backing, extending in a warpwise direction and each floating over a plurality of groups of wefts each group including at least three successive face wefts, each lifting cord at each end of a float being woven under the next succeeding weft, the lifting cords lying substantially flat against the wefts over which they are floated or wovenand disposed entirely below the tops of the pile yarns which form the exposed pile face of the fabric whereby the lifting cords are concealed by the pile tufts, the floats of the lifting cords being accessible from the pile side of the fabric for lifting the fabric.

2. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 1 having wefts disposed in two weft planes with all the face wefts in the same weft plane.

3. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 1 wherein the face wefts in said groups are four in number. i

4. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 3 having wefts disposed in two weft planes with all of the face wefts in the same weft plane.

5. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 1 wherein there are three face wefts between successive groups of wefts and said lifting cords are woven over the intermediate weft and under the other two wefts of said three face wefts.

6. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 5 having wefts disposed in two weft planes with all of the face wefts in the same weft plane.

7. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 5 wherein the face wefts in said groups are four in number.

8. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 7 having wefts disposed in two weft planes with all of the face wefts in the same weft plane. 

1. A woven pile fabric floor covering suitable for use with metal floating floor panels comprising wefts including face wefts, binder warp threads interwoven with the wefts to form the carpet backing, pile yarns looped below wefts and extending above the backing as cut-pile tufts in weftwise pile rows to form a pile surface containing a normal complement of pile, and a plurality of weftwise-spaced lifting cords woven into the carpet backing, extending in a warpwise direction and each floating over a plurality of groups of wefts each group including at least three successive face wefts, each lifting cord at each end of a float being woven under the next succeeding weft, the lifting cords lying substantially flat against the wefts over which they are floated or woven and disposed entirely below the tops of the pile yarns which form the exposed pile face of the fabric whEreby the lifting cords are concealed by the pile tufts, the floats of the lifting cords being accessible from the pile side of the fabric for lifting the fabric.
 2. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 1 having wefts disposed in two weft planes with all the face wefts in the same weft plane.
 3. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 1 wherein the face wefts in said groups are four in number.
 4. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 3 having wefts disposed in two weft planes with all of the face wefts in the same weft plane.
 5. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 1 wherein there are three face wefts between successive groups of wefts and said lifting cords are woven over the intermediate weft and under the other two wefts of said three face wefts.
 6. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 5 having wefts disposed in two weft planes with all of the face wefts in the same weft plane.
 7. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 5 wherein the face wefts in said groups are four in number.
 8. The pile fabric floor covering of claim 7 having wefts disposed in two weft planes with all of the face wefts in the same weft plane. 